Zanzibar acid attack victim vows to return to the country

One of the victims of an acid attack in Zanzibar has vowed to return to the
country, as police continue to probe the attack and investigate a hard-line
Islamic group.

Kirstie Trup, right, and Katie Gee leaving for Zanzibar

By Claire Carter

10:34AM BST 01 Sep 2013

Kirstie Trup, who suffered burns to her left arm, shoulder and back after she and her friend Katie Gee were attacked with what is thought to have been sulphuric acid, said she is frustrated that her attackers have still not been found.

The 18-year-old said despite giving detailed descriptions of them to police no one had been caught, but she was determined to return to the country and resume the voluntary work the pair had been doing there.

She told the Sunday Times: “This experience, as horrible as it has been, has not deterred me from wanting to do more voluntary work in Zanzibar. In fact, I would even like to return to do more work there next year.”

Miss Trup, from north London, had been in Zanzibar with her friend Miss Gee, also 18, for a month doing volunteering for charity Art Tanzania when two men on a moped threw acid over them in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Miss Gee is understood to still be in hospital recovering from her injuries.

Miss Trup ran straight into the sea to try and wash off the acid while her friend ran into a nearby café to ask for help.

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There are suspicions that Uamsho, a hardline Islamic group, may have inspired the attack. The group wants Zanzibar to become fully independent from Tanzania and impose strict Muslim rules. It is also suspected of being behind an acid attack in November on a moderate imam and the shooting dead of a Catholic priest in February.

Miss Trup said she has since wondered why they were targeted, and if their attackers knew them when they smiled before throwing the acid at the pair.

She said she is determined to recover from her injuries, which doctors have warned could take between 18 months and two years after she underwent a skin graft on August 15 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

She added: “It doesn’t make sense that our attackers haven’t been caught. Stone Town is a small place and everyone knows everyone.”

Both girls recently received their A-level results and got the grades they needed to go to university.

After the attack it emerged the pair had argued with a local shopkeeper days before, and had been on the final week of their trip on the island when it took place.

Mkadam Khamis, the regional police commissioner in Zanzibar, said his officers are exploring “many avenues of investigation” including probing Uamsho.